Chimera Master
by ZoologyKaM
Summary: Zelgadis and his friends come across a town with 1/4 of the population being chimeras. Just who is this Master Tochiro and can Zelgadis find a way to fix his body? Then what happens when a disease spreads through the chimeras of the town. Will they find a way to fix it or will Zel fall victim to the disease as well?
1. A Town of Chimeras?

_**A/N: **__Hello people! This story has been sitting on my harddrive for waaaay too long. Check it out and if you like it leave a review telling me so that I'll know that people want it to be continued._

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**Chapter 1 – A Town of Chimeras?!**

"Another day another quiet town. It's so peaceful here." Short, flat-chested sorcerous Lina Inverse stood, shielding her eyes from the sun, out on a grassy hill overlooking a large port city. Her long strawberry blonde hair whipped around her from the wind. "Well you guys know what this means right!" She yelled throwing her gloved fist into the air.

"I hope you're not going to say what I think you are.." The blue stone-skined part-human chimera Zelgadis stood just behind the sorceress. His arms crossed in annoyance.

"Well when it comes to Miss Lina it's not like it could be anything else," Amelia stepped up next to Zelgadis with her usual smile. Her short hair barely moved from the wind but her cape flapped behind her.

"Oh Yeah! Ready Goury?!" Lina jumped up and wrapped her arm around the shoulder of the tall, blonde haired, swordsman.

Goury looked at her as if he were about to go into battle, "Right behind you Lina!" he said. Zelgadis sighed and pressed his hand to his face wishing he could say he didn't know the two smiling idiots that were running down the hill into town yelling, "FOOOOOOOOOOD!" at the top of their lungs.

"Let's go Amelia." He said following after the cloud of dust. The Seirun princess simply nodded and followed along.

XXX

As soon as Lina reached the town she noticed something strange. The town was like any other port town. The docks, where fisherman sold their latest catch… a market place full of traders… even the usual delicious restraunts…! "JACKPOT!" The girl completely forgot that she had just a moment ago thought something was strange, "Goury! This One!" She yelled then ran and burst through the door, the wonderful smells from the kitchen reached her nose. "Waiter I'll take two of everything!" She yelled as she sat at an open table.

"And I'll have the special, Quadruple portions!" Goury added as he took up the seat next to her. The waiter looked at the two of them shocked but nodded and hurried to the kitchen.

Lina was patting her belly as Zelgais and Amelia entered the resturaunt. "Honestly, do you two ever do anything other than eat?" Zelgadis scoffed as he went to sit down

"Zel! Amelia! You guys gotta try this stuff. This place has some great food!" The table where they sat was covered with a mountain of empty plates, as evidence of the delicious food. Lina yelled for the waiter to hurry up with the next round of plates. The rumpled little man ran out balancing plates all up and down his arms and even one on his head. He hurriedly placed his burden on the table then turned to the two new guests for their orders.

He wrote down Amelia's small order of beef stew, business as usual, but when his eyes ran over Zelgadis the pencil fell from his hand. Zelgadis twitched when he noted the man's shocked expression. Amelia jumped up and shoved her menu in the man's face and ordered a second beef stew before Zelgadis could get upset as he always did when someone stared at him.

Zelgadis muttered under his breath, cursing his fate to be stuck with such a monstrous body. Before the waiter had even brought back the beef stews, Zelgadis stood and walked out of the restaurant. There were just too many people staring at him and no matter how much Lina told him that it didn't matter what others thought, he just couldn't stay there any longer. He pulled the tan hood over his head, and some of the loose fabric over his mouth and nose trying to obscure his face, then headed out to look around the town.

"Poor Mr. Zelgadis…" Amelia sighed.

"Aww relax. Zel just needs to stop worrying about other people." Lina said as she continued shoveling food in her mouth. She paused only for a moment to look around at the remaining restaurant patrons. "Though there do seem to be a larger number of people than normal staring at us." All around, everyone in the main dining room was sneaking curious glances in their direction. A few people leaned in to whisper to one another. The hot-headed sorcerous stood abruptly slamming her hand down on the table. "You people got a problem!?" All eyes quickly turned away.

The waiter came out with two beef stews, as he placed them on the table he glanced around the restaurant, "What happened to your friend with the blue hair?" All of them, other than Goury who was still stuffing his face, looked up at the man in curious surprise.

Lina shoved her finger in the man's face. "For your information our friend doesn't like when people stare, and everyone in this place seems to do nothing But stare." The man ducked his head and muttered a small apology.

"I've just never seen one quite like him. It was a bit of a surprise to be honest."

Amelia put down her spoon, "One like him? One what?"

The man looked surprised by the question. He gripped the tray in front of him nervously. "Well… a chimera, of course. That's what he is, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is. But how'd a simple barkeep know that just from looking at him?" Lina shifted her weight on her chair leaning towards the man.

Before the man could respond, Amelia jumped out of her seat. "I'm going to find Mr. Zelgadis!" She rushed out of the restaurant into the crowd.

XXX

Zelgadis wandered through town. With his hood up people weren't staring as much but he noticed the few people that he had stopped to ask about the town had become far too curious, and one was even following him. "Can I help you?" he growled turning around.

The small child he found behind him looked up under the hood and smiled happily. "Wow mister! You're so cool!"

Zelgadis froze. This was never the reaction he received. Cool? Him? He looked like a monster! When the boy saw he was about to get yelled at he put his hands up over his head, causing Zelgadis to be shocked into silence once again. One of the boy's hands was green and scaly.

"What's wrong with your hand?"

The boy slowly peaked past his fingers. He stared curiously at his hands for a moment then held them up to show Zelgadis. "Well nuthin's wrong with em. Why? Do they look funny?"

Before Zelgadis could answer, the boy's mother ran up to them. "I told you not to wander off like that!" she scolded.

"But momma I wanted to see this guy. He's really neat!"

The woman looked up at Zelgadis and did a double take. She said nothing and turned back to her son. "That's no excuse for making me worry. Now get back to the house, right now." She pushed him off towards a row of houses. The boy looked like he was too afraid to protest and ran off. As she stood up and brushed herself off, she turned to Zelgadis to apologize. "I hope he didn't bother you. He's always running after anyone new that comes to town."

Zelgadis simply nodded to the apology. He turned away slightly to hide his face. The woman bowed politely and walked toward her home. Zelgadis spoke softly, "If I may ask… What happened to his left hand?"

She looked back surprised, but smiled kindly, "He was born without one. Master Kichiro was the one who granted him that one. He was only a baby at the time so he really doesn't know any different."

"You let someone warp your son's body into a monster?! What kind of mother would allow something like that?"

The woman whirled back around enraged by Zelgadis' comment, "I don't know who you are but don't you dare insult my son or any of the chimera's of this town like that! You think you're so special because you were able to afford a full body augmentation well good for you! But not everyone is lucky enough for that! How dare you come in here acting all high and mighty!" She advanced on him and her shouts began to draw a crowd of onlookers. It was all Zelgadis could do to back away. "Just because they're not fully one thing doesn't make them any less of a chimera than you!"

The crowd began to form a half circle around them. Zelgadis had been stunned far too many times already, but even the woman's shouts didn't keep him from seeing the muscular man with red scales on his face and a claw for a arm, or the woman carrying a basket, balancing herself on what looked like dragon legs, or the elderly man with a tail curled around his legs.

Zelgadis took another step back, right into a wall. The moment his back touched the wall he leapt skyward, grabbed the edge of the roofing and flipped himself around to land on it. From there he jumped from rooftop to rooftop to get away from the defensive mother. He finally stopped on the roof of a shrine. "Crazy woman…"

He stood overlooking the town thinking, and letting his frustration ebb away into more useful thoughts. "she said chimera… And all those people were…" He thought back to her first explanation for her son's appearance. "Master Tochiro huh?"

"Heeey Zel!"

Zelgadis looked down to see Lina waving at him, Goury by her side. He jumped down and landed easily next to them. True it was something that he wouldn't have been able to do if he were only human but that didn't lessen his irritation at having such a body. "Finished eating already?"

"As a matter of fact, we are. We're headed to an inn now. You coming?"

He shrugged, "I suppose." He walked along just behind them, "hey Lina… Have you noticed anything strange in this town?"

Lina looked back at him with a smirk. "You mean the unusual number of chimeras here? Yeah. After Amelia ran off to find you I asked the people at the restaurant for more information. It was weird the way even common people knew a word from such high level magic."

"Hey, speaking of Amelia," Goury spoke, "You sure she'll be able to find us?"

Lina smiled and waved her hand playfully, "Oh don't worry. I left her a note back at the restaurant telling her which inn we were headed to."

It was all well and good to know his friends were safe, but Zelgadis was anxious to know what Lina had learned, "So… Did you find out who Master Tochiro is?"

"Yeah, he's a sorcerer who lives in that large mansion on the hill. The towns folk said that most of the building is a lab where he studies different chimera combinations while another part is the town's hospital. They said Tochiro is the very best when it comes to information about chimeras."

"...I'll catch up with you two later."

"Whoa hang on there, Zel. It's already late, why don't we head there tomorrow?" Lina had stepped in front of him and patted his chest like a friendly gesture, but he could barely feel the fabric of his clothing press down against his skin. The dulled senses that couldn't feel the warmth of a person's touch… it only confirmed his need to return to being human.

"Maybe you can wait but I can't. I've done enough waiting." He pushed past her without a second though.

Goury readjusted the bag on his shoulder. "Hey Lina, why don't we all go. You can signal Amelia with a spell or something."

She looked up at him surpised, "That's actually not a bad idea. Surprising coming from you."

"Hey now…"

Zelgadis waited as patiently as he could while Lina threw a light spell into the air. It wasn't that he needed his friends to come with him, but rather that Lina would probably get upset if he went on his own after they'd decided to go with. It was five minutes before Amelia few down to them, and the sky was already dark.

"Sorry I took so long." She looked nervously at Zelgadis. He just scoffed and turned away.

"Great. Now that she's here can we get going?" He walked down the street without a second glance.

Amelia sighed and Lina gave her a light pat on the shoulder, "Don't mind him. He's just anxious about getting his body back to normal." When Amelia looked at her curiously she said, "I'll explain on the way. Come on."

The lights slowly flickered out in the town as people went to bed, until the lights of the chimera mansion were the only ones left to light their way.


	2. Enter the Chimera Master!

**Chapter 2 – Enter the Chimera Master **

The group stood in front of a large imposing gate. They stared up at the large magical lock. Lina shrugged. "Well there's nothing we can do about it. Let's just come back in the morning."

"You think a lock is going to stop me?" A wicked smile was on Zelgadis' face as he began chanting the words of a stone spiker spell.

Lina quickly grabbed him from behind, putting him in a headlock. "Now hold it Zel. If we just go busting in there we're not going to make any friends." She held his arms as much as she could, despite his complaints, and despite the fact that he was ten times stronger than her.

Amelia further blocked his attempts by stepping in front of him. "She's right Mr. Zelgadis, besides, breaking into a hospital just wouldn't be right."

"Well who said I care what's right? I-" His arguments were drowned out by a man's yells.

"MASTER TOCHIRO!" A tall man with a muscular build ran up and began banging on the gate. In his panic he didn't even notice the group standing beside him. "MASTER TOCHIRO PLEASE WAKE UP!"

A sound like a yawn emanated from the lock. "Sheesh you people are noisy tonight. Maybe we need to rethink the spell on that lock. What do you need?"

"It's my daughter. Something's wrong! She woke up complaining of a stomach ache and collapsed in pain! Please you have to help her."

"Mr. Yamato?" There was a small sound of rustling. "Alright. Just wait for a moment." The voice still sounded half asleep and a thud and crash came from the lock a second later. After two minutes of silence a short figure emerged from the house carrying a thick case. The person ran up and waved a hand at the lock.

Lina looked over the small boy. His short black hair was frumpy looking, with an almost purple shine to it. Large round glasses sat crooked on his nose. He was wearing a standard dark blue sorcerer's robe with grey gloves and boots. "Are you this Tochiro-guy's assistant?" She was still hanging onto Zelgadis who was beginning to turn even bluer in the face than was normal for him.

"A-ir…"

"Woops sorry Zel." She said letting go.

The boy looked up at them, clearly barely awake, and muttered something inaudible. He turned toward Yamato, "Where's your daughter?"

"Back at the house."

"Hold it." Zelgadis yelled when the man and boy started to run off. "We need to speak with the sorcerer Tochiro." The kid looked back at Zelgadis and his eyes went wide; he let out a low whistle. He looked about to say something but the man spoke out reminding of his daughter who was at home in pain.

The boy nodded and smiled back at the group. "The spell for the lock is Membuka kuci. Go ahead and wait in the main lobby. Just don't touch anything," and without another word he ran off with the man.

Lina had no trouble letting them all in. The candles were out but a simple light spell fixed that. The large front room was lined with furniture, benches and chairs surrounded tables and one corner of the room had several softer-more-expensive-looking couches. Any wall space that didn't have a bench against it was lined floor to ceiling with books.

Barely ten minutes had passed before Lina got bored of waiting. "I thought the kid said not to touch anything," Goury asked as Lina and Zelgadis started looking through some of the bookcases.

Lina shrugged, "A couple of skilled sorcerers like us? I doubt they'd have any objections to letting us read a little."

Zelgadis was already pulling out his third book, examining each then placing them neatly back on the shelves. "Every one of these books is about chimeras." He pulled another one randomly from the shelf and confirmed his thoughts. "There are books from all over the world here."

"I'm with Mr. Goury on this one, guys. You two really shouldn't be messing with those books."

"Oh lighten up you two."

"You really should listen to your friend you know." The four of them spun around see a woman sitting in the open window. She wore a knee length, plain-looking dress. Any of her body that wasn't hidden by the dress was covered with fur and a long lion's tail flicked at her side. They could see the sharp teeth in her mouth as she hissed at them. "Who are you people and how did you get in?"

"Oh well you see a child out front told us the spell for that big lock on your gate. Said if we waited we could speak to Master Tochiro."

The woman's hackles dropped and she lowered herself down to the floor. "What kind of people come to a magical laboratory after dark? You'll forgive me if I don't trust you."

Zelgadis scoffed and turned his attention back to the shelves. His hood and scarf still hid his face. "And you'll forgive us if we don't really care whether you trust us."

"What?! How dare you!" The woman bared her claws and leaned back into a fighting pose. Zelgadis flung his cape out of the way and grabbed his sword.

"Oh lay off them Hina." Everyone paused when the young boy's lazy and tired yawn came through the door. He pulled off his cloak and tossed it onto the floor. "And you," he stared straight at Zelgadis, "Put that sword away. I don't want any more patients tonight." Zelgadis huffed and took his hand off the hilt. "Oh and sorcerous, put those books down. You're out of your league."

"What?! Hey now!" Goury grabbed Lina before she could get upset for having her sorcery insulted.

The boy ignored her and walked over to Zelgadis. He began to circle him like a curious puppy. "On second thought, maybe you're not. This is some amazing work here."

"Huh? Work?"

"Yeah, I'll definitely give you some good recommendations for this one."

The circling was irritating but a child talking like a teacher was ridiculous. As the child passed his right hand again, Zegadis reached down and grabbed the back of his fitted white shirt, lifting him into the air. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!"

"Look kid, I don't know who you are but we're here to see the man called Master Tochiro. There's an important matter I must discus with him."

"You Bone-head! I AM Master Tochiro!" The kid kicked around, and swatted at Zelgadis' hands, trying to get loose. There's no way that a child is a skilled chimera sorcerer. He can't be more than 9 years old. "Put me down!" Over by the window the chimera woman Hina burst out laughing. "Shut it Hina! Get him off me!" Zelgadis saw no point in letting the woman intervene and simply released his grip. The boy fell to the floor landing on his bum. "Ow! You jerk!"

Tears filled the little boys eyes. He jumped up and ran to Hina. She just laughed and pet his head almost like a mother would. Seeing that, Zelgadis actually felt bad. He didn't intend to make the kid cry. Even Lina and Amelia were giving him a cold look. "For goodness sake, all I want to do is talk to Tochiro."

Hina smiled and continued patting the boy's head, "Come on hun, the master is needed."

"I don't like him." He buried his face in her shirt.

"Oh but he's so cool looking." She pushed, " come on, what's he made of?"

The little Tochiro made a pouty face but nodded. He went over and pulled on Zelgadis' arm. He still wasn't buying it but Zel gave in and knelt down to the child's eye level. The kid circled him again. He used a magnifying glass to examine Zel's skin, eyes, ears, and hair. The more he looked at, the more interested he became. When he finally stepped back he had a bright smile on his face.

"Golem, Human, Demon. A powerful combination that would have taken a master to combine them so completely. It's a perfect fusion, with complete mixing. Increased strength, physical durability, magical prowess, sight and hearing become more powerful, but touch becomes dulled. Heart rate should also have increased. No change in appetite. Age of creation, I'd say… maybe 10 years ago?" Zelgadis's surprise was his answer, "Age prior to alterations, 17 years."

"No way Zel! You're 27?"

"His growth rate was severely decreased, so he won't appear to get older for a long time. That can happen when a demon is used in the materials." The kid spoke so matter-of-fact, but how could he possibly know all of that just from looking? Zel hadn't even told Lina or his friends about the increased heart rate or how old he was. How could a child know this!?

"That's enough! How can you know all that?" He got to his feet and swung his arms back showing his frustration.

The kid pushed up his glasses, "I told you. I'm Glenar Tochiro. I've created over five thousand chimeras and studied many more." He thought about it for a second, "though… I'll admit I've never seen one quite as perfect as you."

"Umm… Mister Glenar?" Amelia spoke up from the back of the room. Her face showed her worry. "What kinds of Chimeras do you make?"

"Well I've done some animal combinations but lately I've been focusing on the human combinations."

Zelgadis couldn't take it anymore. "In other words you make freaks!"

Hina growled angrily, "Who you calling a freak!?"

"Come on, Zel, calm down a second."

"No Lina." His eyes never left Tochiro. "How many of those people understood what you were turning them into?! Did they know how the combinations would affect them? Did YOU even understand that?! Or were they just your experiments!" _People don't just CHOOSE to be turned into a monster! If someone knew what becoming a chimera would do to their mind… NO ONE WOULD CHOOSE THAT! _He wanted to punch or break something so badly… but all he could do was clench his fist and hold himself back.

"Mister Zelgadis…"

Tochiro said nothing. He just looked at Zelgadis. What was that expression? Regret? No… Something else. "What kind of child makes chimeras?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"WHY YOU-"

"But I will say this. Whatever it is you want, if it deals with your body, I'm the only one that has a chance of helping you. No one knows as much as me." Tochiro sighed and pushed up his glasses again. "You can either explain it calmly or you can leave."

_This kid!_ _Why is he so cocky! A child Can't understand!_ Zelgadis punched his fist into the wall. His cape swooshed behind him and he stormed out the door.

"Mister Zelgadis!"

"Amelia, Leave him alone for now. I have a few questions for you, Master Tochiro."

Tochiro walked over to one of the couches and gestured for the others to do the same. "First I want to know his story. Then I'll answer whatever questions you may have." He said when the others sat down.

"Well to start, I'm Lina, that's Goury, and Amelia. The guy who stormed out is Zelgadis. He's why we're here." She said as if that wasn't already obvious. "Zel's had it rough." Lina wondered how much she should tell. There's no way the Zegadis would just walk away from an expert like this. But he'd have to cool his head and swallow his pride before he came back. "His body was altered against his will by a powerful sorcerer, and ever since he broke free from that guy he's been trying to get his body returned to the way it was."

"Uh hey Lina, I'm confused."

Of course Goury was confused… when was he ever not? Lina felt like bopping him on the head but instead she leaned in close. "What is it now?" she whispered.

"I was just wondering who'd do something like that to Zelgadis."

She grabbed his hear pulling him in close. Maybe if she spoke right into his ear, even if she was being really quiet so Tochiro wouldn't hear, maybe then he'd actually remember. "Oh you idiot! We fought Rezo back when we first met! Then fought Copy Rezo only a year later! How on earth do you forget all of that?"

"Ow okay, I'm sorry!" Goury rubbed his ear once Lina released him. "Well how come you don't tell this kid who did it?"

"She's worried that I'll be too afraid to work with him if I knew the name of his creator." He'd hit the nail on the head. "Must be someone pretty powerful." Lina stuck her tongue out trying to look cute. Tochiro shrugged, "Whatever. It doesn't really matter who made him. Continue?"

"Oh uhh… Right, well he was trying to find manuscripts of the Clare Bible, but didn't have much luck with those. So I guess he's been getting frustrated lately." _I'm still not sure if he's forgiven me for having the actual clare bible in hand and not asking about it…_ Better not mention that.

"I can see why. Splitting a chimera is nearly impossible."

That caught Amelia's attention, "So does that mean it can be done?"

"Well…" Tochiro paused thinking about it seriously, "I've heard of partial fusions being split apart, with a low success rate. But for your friend…" He shook his head slowly, "I've never heard of a perfect mixing being taken apart. Then again I've also never heard of a perfect human mixing. I honestly don't think it's been done before." They all sat in silence while Tochiro was thinking. "I can't say it's impossible because I've personally never tried. I've never had anyone or thing have an adverse reaction to the fusions so never needed to. I'll have to do some research before I can tell you if it's possible or not."

Lina smiled. "That's as good an answer as we can hope for." She stood and pushed her hair back over her shoulders. "Come on guys. Let's go find Zel and give him the news."

"Didn't you have questions for me?"

"I did but you basically answered all of them just now. I'll get Zelgadis to come and talk to you himself, so you two can figure out the details." It was hard to imagine a child being an expert on such a controversial branch of magic, but heck, who was she to judge. "Don't worry Glen! We'll have him here sometime tomorrow."

**_A/N:_**_ Hey guys! Sorry this next chapter took so long. I had trouble deciding on Tochiro's personality. I've also got a lot of comics, other fanfics, homework, and more that require my attention so updates might be slow. But don't worry! Once I've decided to work on a story, and have a majoritive-ly full plot line planed out, I don't quit on the fic. It will get finished eventually! _

_Till then, comments and opinions of the chapter would be wonderful! If I'm OOC on anybody please let me know!_


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